The Karymsky Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia released another plume on December 17, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture as the plume blew toward the east. In this image, the gray-brown plume looks like a smudge on the snow. Over the ocean, it looks remotely like a dingy cloud. East of the plume, true clouds appear as clusters of opaque white dots.
Karymsky is the most active volcano in the eastern volcanic zone of Kamchatka. It is a stratovolcano composed of alternating layers of hardened ash, lava, and rock. In historical times, its eruptions have largely consisted of explosive ejections of burning fragments and/or sticky lava.
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NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. The Rapid Response Team provides daily images of this region.
